Who knew? The super jeans can be tucked into the "riding" boot.The ballerina will never die. A must have in Paris.French girl gazing at big bags.The BIG scarf.Paris Hair.

We have not addressed hair. Bed Head is still the look. Very carefully arranged messy hair.

This is NOT Brit unwashed messy hair. Jamais!STRIPES.

You can not go wrong wearing stripes in Paris.

This woman is impossibly classe.Stripes + big bag + jeans + Fr. scarf

C'est comme çaJust a smidge of stripe/à rayé and you've got a home run in Paris.Did I mention the 'eeeee-Pod, iPhone, iPad? Essential. Absolument.If you want to find out what Fr women are wearing for Gawd sakes get on any line (cinema, musee, Angelina and observe. DoNOT shop before you arrive in Paris.OMG Why does everyone do this?Chic Frenchie on a velo/VelibLe Trench is forever-if you have one take it.

I Agree. I do not get this obsession with french or parisian chic. I see no chic in their outfits. All in black or white colors. What I see is lack of imagination and no risk taking. I love colors. You make a mistake, you fix it and you evolve in fashion. Yes, Coco C. change the fashion world, but whatever she created 100 years ago, Paris still wears. BORING...

1. Black is still the color, although spring green is starting to show up.

2. This year's accessory? Thin thighs. Everywhere, and on display, in opaque tights.

3. B&D boots--high-heeled, laced-up, tighter than paint. Absolutely right about the jeans, which seem to have come from another dimension but not to have made it entirely through the portal.

4. Earrings can be found, but they are modest, and more of a thing for women over 40 than for la jeunesse. Necklaces, though--those are around.

5. Remember: we in the US strive for chicly casual, heavy on the NAMES, as though we all had independent incomes (or at least were subsidized by ads from the names). French strive for casually chic, looking merveilleuse but off-hand about it. You wear the clothes, rather than display them. Your status is in your flair and nonchalance, rather than in possessing and displaying this year's item.

6. If you are not mince, don't worry about it. We are ronde et joli, and don't you forget it.

Be sure to include the asymmetrical necklace. I see one in a photo.BTW the meteo lady on Channel 1 always wears great French fashion and interesting jewelry. Watch her between 8 and 9 p.m. She epitomizes the effortless French fashion look. How is it French women always look so toss-away chic when we have to work at it??Elizabeth

Thank you, thank you for alerting us to Vaux le Vicomte. Definitely a highlight of our stay. Recommend Wine and Bubbles wine bar, if you haven't been there already. Young and hip and much fun, esp. if you can snag a window seat. Also took a macaron cooking class at http://www.cooknwithclass.com. Only 4 of us in the class (and in English, a Big Help) and the results were lovely. Not as lovely as hot chocolate and macarons at Laduree on a rainy afternnoon, but not difficult to make and we had lots to carry home with us. Mmmmm.Fabulous. Thank you for bringing Paris to my computer every day! Kori

I love to look at the BIG BAGS but do not like to use them. I have a medium bag with a compartment for each thing. Also, when I switch bags I always lose things. Alas, can't be chic.All these girls in france look like SF girls.Annile

Do the Frenchie's have such a thing as "age specific dressing" or does anything do if it's done tastefully enough? I am curious about how this works in Paris, where women of all ages always seem to look great?

There is no need to have "age specific dressing" because they wear uniform, black, white and stripe blouse, with dark scarf and black bag. You in your 20s, you buy all these items and you wear them all your life. There is no style. Absolutely none. how boring is that?

Very fun post.I used to wonder why the French were so scarf crazy and then we moved there and I found out! Scarves feel so good. And if there's a nip in the air, (and there usually is at some point in the day)they're perfect!

I spent just 10 days in Paris, and the only thing I've noticed was: anything you wear, must be ton-sur-ton. Boooooring! As a brazilian, tropical AND happy girl, I like colors a lot, but people looked at my pink and green scarf as I were crazy. Poor french and their greys, so chic and so tasteless. Sorry.

I am with you 200% on that . Have been in Paris and all you see black and white, you were lucky you saw some gray colors. LOL. How about these long pearls around their neck. It's been 80 years already. It's old and not fashionable in 2013..I am happy girl from Chicago. Colors everywhere. NY is colorful as well. I never been in Brazil, but I can imagine that is colorful and not boring. You know why French woman wear boring colors? They have no imagination and afraid to make a mistake. People are here to make mistakes, learn from it and master it. Not just follow something that has been created 100 years ago by Chanel. There are different designers were born and died after her , leaving their creations. Colorful ones...

I guess you could avoid les Converse if you have Michelle O's Lanvin sneakers...And who doesn't want those!!!The French are Boooring and quite conservative Ms. Brazil. And they do dress in a rather sheep-like fashion-all wearing the exact same basics. But they know how to give that little whimsical twist to a basic canvas that makes them unique and individual.Whatareyagonnado?The "It" factor.

Merci for the fashion tips. I'm let's say "more mature". I'm NOT wearing tight jeans etc. I'm packing a lot of black and white and throwing in some great scarves and hoping to learn from you how to wear them for summer! I"ll also be wearing earrings. Not huge but I'm too old to change on that front. Any extra help for those of us that want to "blend in " from the US will be most appreciated. I'm aware that we will never be mistaken for French" but don't want to scream "tourist"!!!!

Bonjour !! Je suis Francaise,currently living abroad, but going to Paris tomorrow, I LOVE your blog I just discovered. You have such a humourous way of showing Paris.What to wear in Paris is so TRUE !!LMAO because Parisians don´t realize they´re being admired for their style, honestly most of the time it´s just a lack of daring, you have to look like you don´t care, and "conservatism" that makes this look.Big bag, big scarf, converse, jeans, black, olive green have been THE look for the past 10 years !! Or shall I say 20 years ?You have to be really courageous to wear anything else...people will be staring at you up and down with their judgemental look...But I can´t wait to shake things up !

OK, well, you're not going to pour me into those bluejeans! Sorry! Black I can do, scarves I can do, even a little bit of stripes, but Converse?? Non! Jamais! Pas pour moi!Oh, and big bags work, and the petit chien, bien sur!!!

great blog, wonderful post.i've just find you out by a brazilian blog named conexaoparis. btw both of you have the same look about parisians...i love ton-sur-ton, stripes, scarves, ballerinas, big bags, cigarettes pants too but converse no, no, no...well, you'll never know... after 10 jours à Paris...and i'm also a brazilian, tropical and happy, maybe not so colourful girl.i missed the men tips, any suggestion for my husband? we're leaving next saturday.gros bisou

I absolutely agree with you, Superchick. French fashion is a myth, at least on the street and worn by everyday French women. Haute couture is another story altogether and THAT one does not see dans la rue. Smarter looking women, (prob still wearing skin-tight jeans and a lot of black or navy) are to be found in Italy, not France. I lived in Rome for six years and I think the clothes and people there are far more stylish but its not popular knowledge. Gwendoline in Australia

The first couple of times we went to Paris, we loved how fashionable the Parisians were. When we were there last fall, after having traveled in Italy, I was disappointed in how "American" the Parisians dressed. The city also looked a bit shoddy and littered. What happened?

The first couple of time you were under influence that Paris is a Fashion Mecca. After Rome or Italy in general, you see the true color of Paris fashion. There is none. Same thing over and over again. Italy is full of colors and variety. Paris has one uniform. Black capris, black shoes, black bag, striped shirt from 1920s, and a scarf, mostly dark. No french woman is brave enough to even brake the rule set by Coco. French ladies, please get over it. Coco created her hot items 100 years ago. There was moon landing, internet, tweeter and so on. Move on. Change. Get some colors. Get out of your uniform. Try to be creative on your own way. Make a mistake, and try again... Do not be boring...

Converse sneakers, now that is funny! I know it's changing but thankfully Paris has NOT embraced wearing pajama pants out. Or that horrid hairstyle where women pull their hair up tight into a long knot on the very top of their head.

There is no other way to say it but everything looks better when one is thin and healthy. Visually, the lines are more straight which makes for a clean look. Which reminds me, I need to get off the computer and go for a walk!

Absolutely agree. Italians are very fashionable.Variety and more variety. Colors and more colors. Not just black and white.I've traveled from Venice to Rome. Every city we stopped, had it's own unique style, which I found fascinating. I can't say that about Paris or France in general.

Just got back from Paris yesterday (6/1/13)and can attest to the accuracy of this entertaining account, with one exception. Well over half of the women I saw were wearing earrings. The rest of it -- Converse, ballerinas, scarves, big bags -- is dead on. Pants are fitted and not baggy, and same goes for overcoats or raincoats: a fitted silhouette. And dark colors always; whether that changes in warmer weather, I don't know.

My favorite French fashion is from the '80s and '90s! :D I LOVE the clothes in all of Eric Rohmer's films so much! <3 Also, I adore Juliette Binoche's outfits in Bleu and Irene Jacob's outfits in Rouge (the Kieslowski Trois Couleur films :>)! They totally epitomize early '90s French fashion for meee :D